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“Time to do the walk of shame.” Luc quietly snuck into his loft, careful not to make a sound. He locked the door behind him and turned around right into his dad. “What the f—"
“Morning kiddo. Just getting in?”
His heart was beating a mile a minute. “Dad, you scared the shit out of me! What are you doing up so early?”
“Son, I’m old. Old people get up early. You okay?” His dad walked into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. “Coffee?”
Luc’s head was spinning, and he felt a bit nauseated. “Thanks Dad, but I’m just going to bed.”
“Luc, maybe we should talk about yesterday. Or maybe you’d like to talk about why, instead of being with your young lady friend so early this morning, you’re sneaking into your house?”
“Not really. The fact is I don’t know why. I woke up and she was gone.” His chest ached. It was a pain he wasn’t familiar with. He had more emotion invested in this girl than he realized. “You know what, Dad? I think I am going to go to bed. Please make sure I’m up in time to get packed for the airport.”
Luc had been hiding in the bathroom for about half an hour. It was the only place in the hotel room that he could get some privacy. He had texted Kassie to tell her that they got to Detroit okay, but he wasn’t getting an answer from her. Why isn’t she responding? Maybe the hotel had bad reception. Opening the bathroom door, he walked out, still staring at his phone.
“Hey Dad, I’m going to run down to the gift shop. I have a hankering for some chocolate. Need anything?”
“Son, hello? Up here, boy. Get your nose out of that phone and talk to us in the real world.” His dad snapped his fingers in Luc’s face.
“What?” Luc growled. Looking around the room, he noticed his dad was not alone. Sam was in their room talking to his father. “Sam? What are you doing here?”
“I stopped by to see if you and your dad wanted to go down to the bar and have a drink, maybe some nachos. Or are you having gastrointestinal issues?” Sam asked, and added a snicker at the end of his words.
“Gastrointestinal what? Why?”
“Dude, you were in the bathroom forever. You’ve either got a serious case of the shits or you were in there texting Kassie. Do I have to guess which one?”
“Well, it’s not the shits,” Luc’s dad said.
Looking at his phone, Luc saw that she still hadn’t texted him back. Worry ate away at the pit of his stomach. “Might as well go get a drink.”
“Good idea. You need to get your head straight before tomorrow.”
Sam wasn’t wrong. And Sam wasn’t dumb. Out of all the guys, he was the one Luc was closest to. Sam was a few years older than Luc, but that never seemed to matter. Sam had what Luc hoped to find someday. Happiness. His friend had a loving wife, who was pretty cool too, and an awesome kid.
It was probably a good idea that he talk to someone about this. Plus, with Sam not having a dad on the trip, it was a nice idea to hang out with him for a while. He was bunking with Kaden, since he didn’t have a dad either. “All right. Drinks on me.”
At the hotel bar, they found a table in the back, away from the temptation of liquor bottles behind the bar. They ordered nachos, wings, beer, and water for Luc’s dad.
“All right Luc. Food is here, and the drinks are cold. So, spill it.” Sam took a drink of his beer and sat back, waiting for Luc.
“What’s Kaden up to tonight?” Luc asked. If anything could make this night worse, it would be Kaden dropping by unexpectedly.
“Odd way to start things off, but okay. Kaden is out with Dom and his dad. And, no, he hasn’t said one word about you yet. I don’t expect him to. Not to me, anyway. Plus, I don’t want to be in the middle of that shit.”
“Yeah, I’m sure he’ll just save all that piss and vinegar for me.” Luc picked at the nachos, loading up a chip full of every topping before popping it into his mouth.
“You talk to your young lady since we landed?” Luc’s dad asked.
“No.” Luc sighed. “I have no idea what’s going on with her. We were perfectly fine yesterday. Then she ran out on me before I woke up this morning, and I was at her place! Who does that? I texted her to let her know we got here okay, but haven’t heard a word back. I’m really not sure what I did.”
“Do you think it had anything to do with the scrap you and O’Conner got into at practice yesterday?” Sam asked, before grabbing a buffalo wing. “I know we talked about this before, but what’s the deal currently with you and O’Conner’s sister?”
Shaking his head, he answered. “No deal.”
“C’mon. I’ve heard the big man bitching. You’re walking a fine line, dude. So, what’s the story?”
Luc let out a heavy sigh. “I told you, man. There’s no story.” He didn’t even know where to begin. But he knew Sam wasn’t stupid and probably knew more than he was leading on.
